Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday awarded more than $164,000 to a Louisiana family whose home was ruined by Chinese-made drywall and said the tainted material must be removed.
U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon's latest ruling comes less than a month after he awarded $2.

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing Co. has asked the companies that make the large sections of its new 787 jetliner to hold back shipping the assemblies for two of the jets for about a month.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said Tuesday that 787 final assembly is continuing at its Everett plant and that the temporary delay won't affect work under way.

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — President Barack Obama says investments in clean energy technologies can help return jobs to the country's heartland and ensure that America doesn't fall behind other nations.
Obama made the comments at a wind energy plant in Iowa that employs more than 600 workers with help from tax credits in last year's economic stimulus law.

TOMAHAWK, Wis. (AP) — A company where a 2008 explosion killed three Wisconsin workers has been fined nearly $100,000.
The fines stem from seven safety violations levied against Packaging Corporation of America.
A federal safety agency noted the violations during an October inspection.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's transport minister criticized Toyota on Tuesday as initially too slow in responding to its recall crisis, but said the automaker had learned its lesson and is getting quicker in announcing recalls.
Seiji Maehara, who will meet U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood later this week during a trip to Washington, said the Japanese government is checking Toyota Motor Corp.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday it earned $2.1 billion in the first quarter, another sign the economy is improving as people spend more on big-ticket items like cars. The automaker expects to be solidly profitable this year, a year earlier than its previous guidance.
Ford said its net income per share was 50 cents during the quarter.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — General Motors Co. has chosen its Tonawanda Engine plant to build a new V8 engine, a person familiar with the discussions said Monday.
The auto maker has scheduled a news conference at the suburban Buffalo plant for Tuesday. GM will announce a $400 million investment for a next-generation engine that the person said will create or retain more than 700 jobs.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world's largest retailer revealed Monday that it has started to crack down on the use of the toxic metal cadmium in children's jewelry and other kids' products.
The new policy doesn't affect what's on the shelves of Wal-Mart stores right now.
Instead, children's jewelry and craft-making kits, toys and child-care articles such as bibs and pacifiers manufactured as of April 9 are being tested for cadmium, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. will move its headquarters cross country to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., to be closer to its key customers in the U.S. government, officials said Monday.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley congratulated northern Virginia for winning an intense sweepstakes between the two states for the corporate control center.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. says it will spend $890 million at five factories to upgrade its V-8 engines to make them more fuel efficient.
The automaker says the moves will preserve or create roughly 1,600 jobs at factories in Tonawanda, N.Y.; St. Catherines, Ontario; Bay City, Mich.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Toyota's subsidiary in Brazil has agreed to recall an unspecified number of Corollas due to the risk of sudden acceleration, the Brazilian Justice Ministry has announced.
Toyota do Brasil Ltda. will recall all vehicles made in Brazil since April 2008 and will fix loose floor mats that could interfere with the gas pedal and cause sudden acceleration, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website late Friday.

FOWLER, Colo. (AP) — Like many a town on the Eastern Plains, this farming community has seen better days, but now it has a new plan. It is going to disappear — from the electric grid.
If all the town's plans — and there are many — come to pass, Fowler will generate its own electricity, biofuel and manure-based gas; and an empty canning plant will turn into a new solar-panel factory.

MONROE CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Monroe City man has been awarded $750,000 after he was severely burned in an accident at the plant where he worked.
Greg Beaver was burned by molten aluminum on Nov. 9, 2004 while working at the Pace Industries plant in Monroe City, which has since closed.
He sued the former owner of the plant, Leggett & Platt, and Cintas Corp.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Saturday cited encouraging signs of an auto industry rebound as he promoted stronger financial rules that he said would help prevent a repeat of the crisis that pushed carmakers to the brink.
Senate Democrats have set a test vote Monday on legislation to tighten federal oversight of the financial sector.

BEIJING (AP) — The first Chinese-made car to hit the U.S. market might be an all-electric minivan that skips over gasoline technology and gets a head start on the auto industry's next era.
BYD Inc., part-owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., hopes to start selling its five-seat e6 on the West Coast this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open on Wall Street Monday after Caterpillar Inc. joined other companies in reporting more signs of an improving world economy.
The big equipment maker, whose results are seen as an economic indicator, reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations after a one-time charge related to health care expenses.

Normally we don't like to feature too many advertisements in IMPO 's Thursday video-based newsletters, but sometimes we just can't help ourselves. In this case, Shell wanted a better way to show how oil interacts with a car's engine without using special effects. While a number of ideas were floated around, like x-rays, the team finally settled on recreating a Nissan 370Z in clear plastic.

FORT PAYNE, Ala. (AP) — A Canadian auto supplier says it plans to invest $14 million to $16 million in a plant to be built in Fort Payne that will initially employ 200 people.
Plasman Corp, part of A.P. Plasman Corp. of Windsor, Ontario, says the facility will do plastic-injection molding, painting and assembly of automotive exterior parts and tool repair.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — U.S. auto sales to fleets surged 47 percent in the first quarter compared to last year, an early sign of economic improvement as governments, construction businesses and rental-car companies began buying again.
Automakers are expecting fleet sales to continue to climb.